In vitro diagnostics (IVD) allows labs to assist in the diagnosis of disease based on assays performed on patient fluid samples. IVD includes various types of analytical tests and assays typically conducted with automated clinical chemistry analyzers (analyzers) onto which fluid containers, such as tubes or vials containing patient samples (e.g., blood samples), have been loaded. The analyzer extracts a fluid sample from the vial and combines the sample with various reagent fluids (reagents) in special reaction cuvettes or tubes (referred to generally as reaction vessels).
Some conventional automation systems include automated pick and place devices, sometimes referred to as robotic grippers or end effectors, which are used to grip items (e.g., fluid containers and reaction vessels) to perform automated pick and place operations to transfer the items between one location of the analyzer to another location of the analyzer for subsequent processing. These items are also typically reoriented during the transfer operation. For example, an item may be rotated to present an item indicator (e.g., bar code label) to an item identifier (e.g., scanner) during operation to determine or confirm identification of the item and facilitate performance of ordered tests and reporting results of the tests.